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For those who are new to the liturgical church, the images and customs which surround its tradition may be foreign elements of the worship experience. This handbook includes the meaning and the historical context of the signs, symbols, and gestures commonly encountered in liturgical churches and worship.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Patricia Klein has put together an immensely useful handbook for all elements of Christian worship. Using drawings, definitions, and brief historical explanations, she maps out the large landscape of liturgy with clarity and brevity. Chapter 1, for example, moves from the most obvious starting point (the church building itself, including explanations of the terms cathedral, basilica, and oratory) through monastic architecture, the interior and exterior spaces (buttress, cloister, apse, chancel) and then into church furnishings (ambo--"a raised desk from which the Gospels or Epistles were read or chanted") and liturgical furnishings (processional cross, alms basin). Subsequent chapters explore the altar, the cross, the liturgical year, liturgical worship, music, sacraments, vestments, as well as church dogma (the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed). A delightful book for browsing and reference, it can get positively addictive for anyone with an interest in the outer forms of the inner faith. --Doug Thorpe

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

This is an excellent start for those investigating liturgical worship in the Christian Church. It does tend to be slanted toward the Roman Church omitting several Anglican similarities. For example, Rosary is listed as specifically Roman even though it's use is widespread in the Anglican (Episcopal) Church. Under the heading Books of Worship, the breviary is listed as used in the Roman Catholic Church omitting the Anglican Breviary as well as the Anglican Missal. In the procession, the boat boy (boy who carries the unburned incense)is not mentioned and under clergy there is no mention of a Canon who is fairly common in the Anglican Church. There are other omissions and not much detail about the Orthodox tradition, however, most major subjects have been covered and provide a begining for those interested.

Now in an expanded second edition, Worship Without Words: The Signs and Symbols of Our Faith is a solid quick-reference guide to terms, symbols, clothing, titles, and more used in Christian liturgical worship. From dictionary-like sections that spell out definitions with visual aid from simple black-and-white pictures, to the cycles and holidays of the liturgical year, to lessons and books of worship, the concept of the body of Christ, vestments, and more, Worship Without Words is an excellent primer for anyone new to liturgical worship whether through conversion or rediscovery. A reader-friendly, highly accessible resource. Also highly recommended is author Patricia S. Klein's "A Year With C.S. Lewis".

Paraclete Press sent me a complimentary copy of Worship Without Words: the Signs and Symbols or Our Faith. It explains the symbols that you find in churches that have some kind of historic architecture as well as words used during the service. The author is Roman Catholic but she covers Protestant and Eastern Orthodox churches as well. I found the section on architecture to be the most helpful. I'm always getting words like chancel, sanctuary, nave, and narthex confused in my head. This book has some very helpful diagrams. One is an overhead shot diagramming the various parts of a church with a cruciform floor plan. Another gives a view from the nave looking towards the sanctuary. In many Protestant churches when people talk about the sanctuary they are referring to the area that people sit in but this is really the nave. As the book points out "nave" is the Latin word for ship and "In ecclesiastical art, the Church is represented as a ship sailing toward heaven. The ship's "passengers" are the parishioners who sit in the main part of the church." This isn't the type of book you are likely to read all the way through but it's an excellent reference.